2025 Dorking Club Finals
What a brilliant Finals weekend - so many competitions that we had to start on Friday evening to fit all the matches in !! Excellent skills were shown by all finalists and great matches to watch. Huge congratulations to Trevor for organising throughout the season.
Sunday presentations were followed by a BBQ with bring-a-plate salads and desserts (thanks also to COOK in Dorking for their additional donation). As usual our members excelled in their kind contributions of food and we were all pretty full leaving the Club. Below are the days summaries that Sheila compiled as emails to all and just a few action pictures from the three days. Good crowds supported the matches - some in the 'stalls' (outside benches) and some in the 'upper circle' (inside chairs). The games were all played in good spirit and camaraderie - shows our great Club community. There is a separate article for the winners - click here.
Thanks to Trevor for the words below:.
It was an exciting start to finals weekend on Friday evening. Mike won a thriller playing Richard W. 21-20 in the Handicap, by taking the jack back with his last bowl from a losing position and getting 3 on the 28th end. In the Ladies Sets, Patricia T. took the second set to win against Chrissie after they had tied the first set.
The action continued Saturday, rain or not, and all matches were completed. Thank you to those contestants and markers who played early to avoid the possibility of rain delays.
In the morning, Nick was too good for Trevor T. in the 2-woods; the Ladies Pairs went to the last end with Maggie and Mary taking a final end win over Chris and Barbara; and in the Men's Pairs a strong Steve and Mike pairing were too much for the ever-enthusiastic Graham and Paul Manuel.
In the afternoon, the singles were played early to avoid the rain. A very close Challenge Cup match saw Paul C. eventually take the day over Alan W.; and in the Men's 3-bowl Sets Hugo took another very close match over Nick. The triples then got underway early but still played their last few ends in the rain, with Sheila B., Sonia, and Mary winning over Sheila G., Carol, and Patricia T. In the men's, Bash (for the third year in a row), James and Trevor T. took the win over Steve, Ted, and Eric, with lots of 'touchers' seen throughout the game.
On Sunday morning Richard W beat Nic in a very close Millennium and Mary and Steve were the victors over Pat and Trevor in the Nominated Pairs. During the afternoon we were treated to two super close Championship games. The men's went to 18-18 and finished after 25 ends with Kevin the victor over John S - with Kevin at the 24th end delivering a perfect 4 (see title picture) - something we all dream of doing. The Ladies got to 19-19 with Wendy just beating Chrissie after 28 ends. Brilliant entertainment.
After presentation of all the cups and coasters Ray presented Trevor with a bottle of whisky as a thank you from the Club for yet another brilliantly run Internal Competitions Final.
